Who thinks there needs to be a good Fish Shop in the Southern tier?

I was only able to make it to ABC and Carribean forest due to a 2 year old who was tired of being in the car driving to each place :P. Both are very nice. Much better then anything in Elmira, on par with ABC in Syracuse as far as display and knowledge. I spent a lot of time at Carribean talking to the lady there who helped me a lot on some ideas. I left with my wallet lighter. Prices seemed fair, lots of beautiful coral and displays. ABC was a bit more out of the way for us, further off the highway, but seemed like a very nice establishment as well.
 
ckaquatics said:
We are in the process of setting up a small scale shop in the back of our house. Currently working on it and should be up and running within a year. Going to house our 375 reef, with 6 growout tanks, and also going to try my hand at breeding clowns and going to get 6 of the more rare pairs. If it dosent work out, still will have tons of frags and fish for my collection!!! Just went this weekend and picked up 42 different corals. Drove from Way down in ohio back to ny and picked them up along the way!!!!!! STAY TUNED!! LOL
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looking foward to this :) always a supporter of the LFH (local fish house):)
 
Hi all,
I spend a lot of time reading forums and obviously little posting on them. But I have lived in the Southern Tier for most of my life and even though we don't have the the greatest reef shops around, we do have a decent one. Nature's Best Fish on 26 S in Vestal is what I think is the best option. Yes, it may not be the prettiest store in town but I've done business with Rick (owner) for a long time and he will do and get anything you want him too. I was just in there today and he told me next week he's offering a sale on reef crystals salt for under 40 bucks a bucket.
 
is this by chance the owner of natures best? if so get some quality coral, get rid of the sick/dying/dead fish out of your tanks and Id shop there. I cannot stand anything more than people neglecting their livestock. I have bought nice fish there before, but it hasn't been many. and the coral selection is nonexistent IMHO
 
Seriously? Nature is the only place I would even think of buying fish from in the southern tier. Every fish store has a death now and then (so many are doomed before they even make it into the store) I will give you he has a poor coral selection, but I have been going there for a decade and his fish have always been tops. I wouldn't want to stick my hand in the water at creature un-comforts (last time I was there most tanks had a thick film across the water) and I have yet to go to livingstons with out seeing at least a couple fish with at least minor ick issues. They at least have some nice corals though. Creature comforts is a prime example of throwing money at a setup. They spent all that money and time on a flashy salt area and didn't put an ounce of care into it. Just want to flash for more money in.
 
jj12680 said:
Hi all,
I spend a lot of time reading forums and obviously little posting on them. But I have lived in the Southern Tier for most of my life and even though we don't have the the greatest reef shops around, we do have a decent one. Nature's Best Fish on 26 S in Vestal is what I think is the best option. Yes, it may not be the prettiest store in town but I've done business with Rick (owner) for a long time and he will do and get anything you want him too. I was just in there today and he told me next week he's offering a sale on reef crystals salt for under 40 bucks a bucket.
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Sweet! I was so hoping he would do that. I just ran out! :rollface: :dance:
 
i agree about comforts,even the water is grose and livingston always has ick on at least a minimum of 3 fish. but i have been to natures and seen fin rot, and horrible lateral line disease before on multiple fish. Just my opinion, which im entitled to but if I were to buy livestock id probably make the trip to ABC or rochester. as for salt thats a good price. too bad he cant sell it at that rate all the time like ABC does. Id go there for that alone. don't get me wrong, it is the only "real" sw store around...however a lot of products are overpriced and outdated.
 
reefjunkie42 said:
is this by chance the owner of natures best? if so get some quality coral, get rid of the sick/dying/dead fish out of your tanks and Id shop there. I cannot stand anything more than people neglecting their livestock. I have bought nice fish there before, but it hasn't been many. and the coral selection is nonexistent IMHO
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No, I'm not the owner. But I do have some knowledge about how the business works. I like ABC Reefs, they're awesome..but they have a much larger customer base and the gas cost is a factor. All I was trying to say is we have the makings of a good reef shop here but the reality is small specialty businesses need support to survive. Don't get me wrong, I buy stuff on the net (BRS, Saltwaterfish.com) but I also try to buy local. I think compared to the others out there in the southern tier, the best option we have is natures. I agree the coral selection is scant though.

reefjunkie42 said:
i agree about comforts,even the water is grose and livingston always has ick on at least a minimum of 3 fish. but i have been to natures and seen fin rot, and horrible lateral line disease before on multiple fish. IMHO
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I've seen some rough fish there too. I asked about a few of them and found out he will basically take any fish people bring in and then he doesn't resell them if there is something wrong. There are a couple yellow tangs with no fins at all, they look horrible, he told me they were put into an uncycled aquarium and he's had them for years. Maybe you saw disease on some for sale but it may have been some of the permanent residents.
 
it might have been some permanent residents thats true id support him, in fact i tried. but he was only interested in selling me a marineland led system instead of the 1 i was inquiring about. If he had say even a ph probe id buy it from him, but sometimes its a need to buy online. that said id support anyplace that has some nice livestock and clean tanks.
 
I'm sure the fish you saw were rescues (he had a huge blue tang that looked half dead for years he took in) I guess he would be better off keeping those elseware, but in reality, there is no place else for him)
I have never seen him "sell" anybody anything, so maybe he was just being friendly talking to you about the light. I'm not sure how many times I have seen him show a customer the absolute cheepest way to have a salt water fish, when he could have pushed much higher end and $$$ stuff.
Either way, I know the store is a long way from ABC and the Rochester stores, but it is really all we have. Problem is more then anything, the store needs a $30k make over. That being said, the last few months he has been putting money into the store and improvments are slowing coming.
 
I was standing in Nature one day and watched him take a fish from a customer that I was surprised the thing even made the transport. I was talking to him about it after the person left he told me that he would never sell that fish. I know I would not be in to taking that fish and putting it in my system. So I guess I am glad someone out there helps this poor fish that people think they can handle but cant. There is no SPCA for fish we only have people like Rick from Natures. I was also in the about a week ago asking if he has black pond foam he gladly looked it up for me and said that it was way to high priced to try online. He was going to have to get $35.00 a can I found it online for $7.95 a can and I need five cans for a rock wall. He could have taken advanced of that if he wanted to I knew how much it was online before I asked him. When I first started a few local shops took advantage of me. But I can't say that about Natures.
 
I know this place isn't "local" but I think it should be a model to fish stores everywhere... House of Finns in CT. I was there yesterday and was totally blown away with the quality of stock they have. And I can tell from the person I spoke with they are not just trying to make a buck but actually are "INTO" the hobby themselves. Definitely a worthwhile trip if you happening to be near Long Island.
 
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